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CARDINAL SCALE MANUFACTURING COMPANYIntuitive ERP Helps Scale Manufacturer Streamline Operations

CASE STUDY

CASE STUDY CARDINAL SCALE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 2

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WEIGHTY PROBLEMS Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Company (Cardinal Scale) has achieved worldwide

brand name recognition for its complete line of weighing products and systems,

including truck and railroad track scales, medical scales, food service scales, floor

scales, weight indicators, load cells and vehicle weight management software.

Headquartered in Webb City, Mo., Cardinal Scale has warehouses in Canada and

the United Kingdom and distributors in over 100 countries. Its products were

recently featured on two TV shows, “How It’s Made”, a popular series on the

Science Channel, and “World’s Greatest!” on the ION channel.

CUSTOMER DETAILS

Complete line of weighing products and

systems

Truck and railroad track scales, medical

scales, food service scales, floor scales,

weight indicators, load cells and vehicle

weight management software

Based in Webb City, Mo., warehouses

in Canada and the United Kingdom and

distributors in over 100 countries

Worldwide brand name recognition

INDUSTRY

Industrial Equipment

APTEAN SOLUTION

Intuitive

CHALLENGES

• Manydisparatesystemsusedtomanagethebusiness.

• Neededconsolidationandintegrationonasinglesystem.

• Lackedvisibilitytoworkinprocess.

• Lackofaccurateandtimelymanagementinformationwasimpacting

decision making.

• Oldsystemwasveryunstable.

• WantedaMicrosoftSQL-basedproduct.

BENEFITS

• Reducedthenumberofopenworkordersby26percent.

• Improvedforecastaccuracy.

• Reducednumberofpastdueordersby10percent.

• Improveddecision-makingwithinstantaccesstoaccurateinformation.

• Improvedcustomerservicebyprocessing20percentofsalesordersviaEDI.

CASE STUDY CARDINAL SCALE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 3

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Formorethan20years,CardinalScalereliedonanMRPsystem

interfacedtoathird-partyaccountingpackage.“Overtheyears,

we created many disparate systems to manage the business,

residing on servers and workstations throughout the company,”

saidLarryHicks,vicepresidentofoperationsatCardinalScale.

“We wanted to consolidate under one system and move to current

technology, with a business software solution that would integrate

all areas of our company, including manufacturing, finance, sales

and production.

“One of the biggest problems we faced was the lack of visibility

to work in process. It took two days to process shop floor

transactions, by which time the information was out of date. We

also realized that the lack of accurate and timely management

information was impacting our decision making. Finally, we wanted

to provide our regional sales managers with customer, sales,

shipping and accounting information.

“Our old system was very unstable. We were looking for a

progressive company that was not too big, yet aggressive and

growing and constantly enhancing their software. We also wanted

aMicrosoftSQL-basedproduct,soIntuitiveERProsetothetop

of the list. After visiting Intuitive’s Kirkland office and Aptean

Corporation’s Indianapolis headquarters, we were convinced that

IntuitiveERP,backedbytheApteanorganization,offeredwhatwe

were looking for,” said Hicks.

EXTERNAL FORCES THREATEN IMPLEMENTATION Likemanyothermanufacturers,CardinalScalefeltthenegative

impactoftheeconomicdownturninthefallof2008.Nevertheless,

thecompanywentaheadwithitsimplementationofIntuitiveERP

onschedule.“WewentliveonJanuary5,2009,andonJanuary8,

2009wehadaverysignificantreductioninourworkforce,many

ofwhomhadspentthelastsixmonthsinintensiveIntuitiveERP

training,” said Hicks. “But we were pleasantly surprised that, after

aweek,wewerebacktoanormalpaceofwork,andIntuitiveERP

enabledourreducedworkforcetokeepupwiththeday-to-day

operational requirements.”

Theprojectincluded,notonlythebaseERPproduct,butalso

Intuitive’s Shop Floor Manager on 30 shop floor terminals. The

system was implemented at Cardinal Scale’s three U.S. locations,

(Webb City, Atlanta, and Miami) and a warehouse operation in

Ontario,Canada.DuringJanuary2010,CardinalScalesuccessfully

completedtheimplementationofIntuitiveERPatitsUnited

Kingdom location.

APTEAN CONSULTANTS PLAY A VITAL ROLE Inadditionto125concurrentuserlicenses,CardinalScale

purchasedApteanERP’sfull-serviceimplementationmethodology,

under which an expanded Aptean implementation team performed

the entire project management portion of the implementation

process to guarantee success. “We wanted to ensure a smooth

transitionfromourexistingsystemtotheIntuitiveERPsystem

by taking advantage of Aptean’s experienced consultants and

developers,” said Hicks.

We were looking for a progressive company that was not too big, yet aggressive and growing and constantly enhancing their software. We also wantedaMicrosoftSQL-basedproduct,soIntuitiveERProsetothetopof the list.

Larry Hicks V.P.Operations, Cardinal Scale Manufacturing Company

“

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CASE STUDY CARDINAL SCALE MANUFACTURING COMPANY 4

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According to Hicks, Aptean consultants played a vital role all

the way through the implementation process, culminating in a

successful go live. “The first thing we did was create an Intuitive

ERPtrainingroom—aplacewheretheimplementationteamcould

workawayfromthedistractionoftheirday-to-dayjobsandreally

focus on the project. We established a team of 11 people from key

functionaldepartments.Weadoptedatrain-the-trainerapproach,

and the implementation team was responsible for the first round of

training. It was then the team members’ responsibility to train their

people,” explained Hicks.

Hicks continued, “Our Aptean consultants emphasized the

importanceofwritingworkinstructionsandstep-by-step

procedural documents. The implementation team leaders created

the work instructions for their own departments. Once they

understood how the Intuitive system worked and created the

work instructions, it was a simple task to train their people. The

work instructions were also a big asset after the implementation in

training new employees.”

“The Aptean consultants also stressed the importance of

conferenceroompilots.So,weranabout10-12pilotsessions,

taking an order all the way through the system. I believe that this

was key to a successful ‘go live.’ By the time we got to the ‘go live’

date, we’d been through the process many times and worked out

all the bugs. The Aptean consultants really gave us good advice on

how to set up and conduct the implementation,” concluded Hicks.

VISIBLE BENEFITS EXPERIENCED SincegoinglivewithIntuitiveERP,CardinalScalehasseen

improvements in every department. Streamlined operations, system

reliability,real-timeinformationandimproveddecision-making

are just some of the benefits the company has received. One of

Cardinal Scale’s key objectives was to improve how the company

collected and processed data from the shop floor. It was essential

that the information was made available to management in real

time.

“Oneofthekeyselectioncriteriawastoincludeareal-timeshop

floor data collection system,” said Hicks. “With our previous

system, shop floor transactions were sent to a clerk for data

entry and batch processed the following night. As a result, the

information available to the shop supervisors was two days old

and of little value. Today, with Shop Floor Manager, supervisors

have visibility into every job and employee currently logged on

to the system, and can adjust priorities in real time to meet daily

demands. We have also developed extensive labor reporting,

providing management with insight into each department’s

efficiency, utilization, and productivity, to immediately identify

potential bottlenecks and problem areas.”

ThefactthatCardinalScalenowrunsMRPnightlyhasdramatically

improved materials management. The company also uses master

scheduling on two high volume, high profit product lines, which

reduced the requirements for a couple of key components by over

10,000parts.“Withouroldsystem,wecouldonlyrunMRPonce

aweek(overtheweekend),”saidHicks.“NowwithIntuitiveERP,

whenwereceivealargeorder,it’sbrokendownbyMRPinto

purchasing and production requirements the next morning or, at

most24hoursfromorderreceipt.Thishasreducedourreaction

timeonnewordersby85percent.Wealsofoundthatthelogic

withinIntuitive’sMRPprocesshasimprovedmaterialsplanning,

and allows easier maintenance of existing purchase and work

orders.Wemanageabout40,000items,125,000BOMstructures,

and50,000routingoperations,andtheMRPprocessnowruns

in about 10 minutes. We have reduced the number of open

workordersfrom3,000toanaverageof2,200,ora26percent

reductionsincemovingtoIntuitiveERP.”

UsingIntuitive’sEDIcapabilities,CardinalScalenowprocesses

nearly20percentofitsordersautomatically.“Weareinthe

processofmovingourEDIprocessingfromathird-partyVANto

Intuitive’sbusinesspartner—Acclimate,”saidHicks.“Acclimatehas

further enhanced the process that evaluates inventory levels and

follows basic rules for determination of ship dates, thus eliminating

the need for manual customer service intervention.”

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Copyright©Aptean2012.Allrightsreserved.

CASE STUDY CARDINAL SCALE MANUFACTURING COMPANY

www.aptean.com

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BETTER DECISION MAKING Accurate and timely management information is essential to

makinggoodbusinessdecisions.Intuititive’sAdvancedReporting

module has enabled Cardinal Scale to unlock the wealth of

informationcontainedwithintheirERPsystem.“Advanced

Reportinghasbeenourtoolofchoiceforcreatingnewreports,”

said Hicks. “Today, we have over 300 reports created internally to

meet the needs of our managers and employees. An additional

benefitofIntuitiveERPandAdvancedReportingisthatwecan

now view information online, and have virtually eliminated printed

reports.Previously,wehadfourhigh-speedprintersthatproduced

thousands of pages of paper every week.”